Thanks for taking the time to explain Tom, and your offer. I'd made a naive assumption that blight resistance from those varieties may be effective over here too. I'll try and make some of my own crosses this year (fingers crossed) with some of the Sarpo varieties. If I'm not asking too much, any tips for what crosses? Looking for blight resistance and an improved eating quality (I prefer waxy types). Hereís what I have available on the resistant front;Axona and Mira, ( also Blue Danube Sarpo Una, Sarpo Kifli, though they are not as resistant)Setanta Toluca Orla

On the blight theme, I'm growing Lumpers from Irish Seed Savers Association this year (I'm not sure if you have a hand in that), so fingers crossed they stay well long enough for a crop!

Go on 1066, you know you want to, I'm hoping Jeannine will be joining in too ;D If you are short on space for this year, what about growing some in smallish pots and getting some mini tubers to grow as seed potatoes next year? Iím hoping to do this with some later on.

Oh..and another thing that I was wondering.. ::)When you harvest the seed pods...do the seeds come clean out of the pod straight away or is there some sort of 'gunk' to get rid of first ???..like with tomatoes..And do you process with the seeds then as usual...drying them out before packing away untill spring..etc.I was "just" thinking if this "bug"(feeling the first symptoms already) doesn't clear out I might have to do the whole thing from start to finish..from harvesting the seed to digging potatoes out..just to get it out of my system..:-X ::) ;)

I picked the few berries I had last year, Russian Banana and Blue Russian a bit before their time, due to the start of blight on some other potatoes nearby. I kept the berries inside to ripen for a while; they have a remarkable sweet scent when ripe and the pods had gone a bit squidgy. I blitzed mine in a liquidiser with a couple of cups of water and then strained off all the bits. I used the liquidizer method but I could have squeezed them out and rinsed them in a fine sieve. They can be left to dry as you would tomatoes, but......

I then followed advice, given I think on another forum, by Tom Wagner, to use a small amount of TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) to clean the seeds, followed by a bleach wash and then I think it was a hot rinse! This is to help remove germination inhibitors and hopefully kill any viruses. Iíll see if I can find a link as I found it really interesting.

You can skip the above and have good results, but from what I understand germination may take a little longer and be a bit sporadic.Even if you leave the berries and they go hard, you can still get the seeds out after a quick soak.

Yayyyy that was quick, they sound a super variety. I think if you are growing Tomís TPS they are very likely to be able to set berries.

Your question appeared simple to start but as I write it seems to me no simple question. So hereís the little I know and probably not put very well....Not all varieties of potatoes are able to set and make seed. Most varieties here are tetraploid and of those that can set berries most will self pollinate, although if you have other potatoes growing and flowering close by some may cross.

Then it gets more complicated; there are also varieties which are unable to self pollinate mainly it seems the modern ones which have sterile pollen (I think also some are female-sterile). Besides this Iíve not quite got my head around diploid, tetraploid x diploid.

thanks Jayb and yes it was helpful! Your explanation helps me as I it explains in simple language about those that cross and those that don't, which is where I think I was geting muddled before! I also think where I get muddled is all the info about breeding, and crossing.

Amazing how quickly these grow, I took these pictures on the 20/3, I'll take some more as soon as I get my camera back from a friend.[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Intresting to see the darker stems and almost purple edges to some leaves and I hope this indicates some tubers will have coloured skin and or flesh.

I've potted most of these up, perhaps a bit soon but I had them a little squashed in. I transplanted them as deeply as possible into about 1" modules, leaving just the last leaves showing above the compost, they look to be doing well.

Wondering how your TPS are doing?Mine have been potted on once, and are outside on a sunny windowsill, growth seems very slow at the moment and I'm wondering when I need to move them on.I also still need to work out where I'll move them onto. Some will have to be in pots as I don't have much space left this year, so I need to figure out the best way to deal with them in pots/ buckets, and to find big enough pots/buckets to cope them.

Oops sorry a bit slow updating. Mostly it is going well although I think mine would have benefited from being sown a couple of weeks later. I wasnít quite ready to get them out when they needed it and I think they would have been a little soon re frost. But I could quite easily have covered them with fleece. Some of the poor little things havenít been potted on as quickly as they should and have suffered a little, they look a bit straggly and in need of a feed. Though I think they will still make serviceable plants just the harvest may be a little reduced and delayed. Iíll try and take some recent pictures in the next day or so.

These pictures are a bit old now but should give an idea how mine have been progressing. These have all either been in a polytunnel or greenhouse (no heating) for the last 4- 6 weeks. Iím not sure why yours should be slow to grow on, could it have been a bit too cool for them?

Iím going to put some of mine into pots too, if space allows. What about using old compost bags turned inside out, not the prettiest but I think would be fine for 2 plants, it can be quite handy to roll the bags up as they grow and makes it quite easy to keep topping the bags up. The tps I planted in a bed last year were roughly a foot apart each way and it seemed to work well, although Iíll try and experiment a little to see what works the best. I used grass clippings to help Ďearthí them up.

Seedlings after their first potting on taken on 6th April

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Again about a month later on 2nd May They are just about to be planted out.

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This Skagit Magic seedling grew at a much faster rate than all the other tps so I potted it up separately, flower buds are just showing again taken on 2nd May

thanks for the update and the photos :) Yours look much bigger, but then they were sown earlier and have had the benefit of the polytunnel. Kind of helps me understand what to expect. I like the idea of using compost bags, hadn't thought about putting 2 plants per bag so that would be good too Think I'll plant mine out next week .....